A Fork in the Road
by jitterbug22784
Summary: Bella moves to Forks from Phoenix with her father Charlie. Bella is hiding a secret from the entire Forks community. After living there for a year the Cullens move to town and are the new kids. Some fit in with the school better then others. AU AH Std cpl
1. Chapter 1

**I am not nor do I claim to be Stephanie Myers. I'm merely playing with her characters.**

**A Fork in the Road**

**BPOV**

_Phoenix, Arizona_

When I came to all I could hear was the steady rhythm of a heart monitor. It took me several minutes of being semi-conscious before I realized it was monitor of my own heart. I could feel the itchy overly starched sheets rubbing my bare skin as I began to stir. I knew where I was before I even opened my eyes. It was only confirmed when I opened them and saw the I.V. bag hanging from a rack beside my bed. Another trip to the hospital, it was beginning to seem inevitable lately. The all too familiar stiffness that I was familiar with had already set in while I was unconscious. Afraid too move too much as to alert the nurses I laid as still as I could. I didn't want to speak to any of them until I could speak to my mother, Renee, and find out what the story was that she had told them.

For fifteen years my mother and I had silently endured my father, Charlie's beatings. We'd managed for fifteen years to keep his secret that he couldn't control his emotions. It wouldn't have mattered even if someone managed to figure it out Charlie would have himself transferred to another department and we'd move before any one could bring up the idea of charges. We'd been living in Phoenix for the last five years. Charlie worked at one of the local police stations, Renee worked at the diner up the street from our run down house, and I attended the local high school and tried to blend in as much as possible and go unnoticed. Although going unnoticed in the sun-saturated state was pretty hard to do when you were as white as I was.

After a few minutes of consciousness the nurse came in bustling about the bed checking my I.V., heart monitor, and blood pressure. After checking my vitals she went over to the nurse's cart and came back with a thermometer and shoved it in my mouth. She wrote down some numbers and left the room. A few moments later a doctor came in to see me.

The doctor greeted me and began going into a long explanation about what had happened. All I heard from him was accident, Renee, and I'm sorry she didn't make it. All I could think was that sick bastard had staged a car accident to hide his mistake and finally taking his beating too far. He had killed my mother, beat me senseless, and then dragged both of our unconscious bodies to the car and staged an accident. I couldn't believe he was going to get away with it again.

_Five Days Later _

Charlie came everyday like the loving, devoted father her was acting to be. The doctors were none the wiser about had really happened. The lacerations and bruises the assumed were from the car accident. It turned out that the story was Renee had been driving me home from shopping, it was late at night and she had lost control of the car and swerved into a tree. Apparently even though she was the wife of an officer she had neglected to wear her seat belt and had been ejected out of the car and was killed instantly. Or so the police report said.

Charlie took me home after five safe days in the hospital. I had missed everything while in the hospital. Charlie had pushed all of the paper work through as fast as he could so that he could get Renee buried. I had missed her viewing and funeral. I was shocked when I walked in the house to find everything boxed up. Charlie saw the shocked stupid look on my face and said we were moving. All I could think was that not only would I never see my mother again but I wouldn't even be able to visit her grave from time to time. He had been offered a promotion to be the sheriff of a small town in Washington and of course given the current situation graciously accepted, thus avoiding any kind of suspicion from anyone questioning his private family life, and so once again I was forced to move. Only this time I wouldn't have my mother around to protect me and help with cover stories. Charlie had threatened us both since I was five that if anyone ever found out he'd kill us.

_Forks, Washington One Year Later_

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Uggggghhhhh another wonderful Monday in the beautiful rain filled town of Forks. I slowly shifted in my bed testing my sore bruised limbs. I reached my arm up and turned my alarm off. Angela would be her shortly to pick me up for school. As I climbed out of bed I winced at the sharp pain in my right leg and right rib cage. As I changed into a pair of slightly oversized flare jeans, threw on a sweater that I had managed to salvage before we moved that was my mothers, and slipped into my vans. I rushed into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and ran a brush through my hair. I sprinted down the stairs and stopped in the hall way to look in the floor length mirror. I lifted up my mother's oversized outdated sweater and looked at the swollen red and blue bruises slowly starting to emerge from last nights beating.

I heard Angela honk the horn and I grabbed my back pack from the kitchen and scrambled for the door. I hated for Angela to hop out and come to the door. Even though it was just the hallway and it was fairly clean I hated for her to see the inside of my run down house with the yellowing cigarette smoked walls and beer stained wall paper that was slowly peeling off at the corners where the walls met. Everyone in town knew something was different at our house but they just ignored it because my father was the sheriff and had managed to improve the town's crime rate by 30% since being there in the last year. Most chalked up the subtle differences to us being without a motherly figure.

I reached the door and was out just as she was about to open her door. As I headed out into the hazy smog filled morning I turned around to make sure the door was locked. Charlie hated when I left it unlocked. He came home one afternoon to find that I had left in a rush and left it unlocked and had beat me senseless. He said we needed to be an example to the community and that I was purposely trying to make him look like a fool. Before I jumped in Angela's car I grabbed my book and Ipod from my old rusty truck that Charlie had bought for me when we got here.

As I climbed in Angela seemed extra cheerful, especially for a rainy Monday. "Hey Angela. What are you so happy about today?" Angela just smirked and said, "Bella weren't you paying attention at all in school last week? The whole school was talking about not one but five new students starting at Forks High today." "Oh I guess I did miss that announcement. Well at least they have each other for support in this oversized fish bowl of a school,' I replied. Angela just laughed and responded that she didn't think they'd have much trouble fitting in. Her dad worked at the local hospital in the pediatrics unit and had met their father Mr. Carlisle Cullen and he had told her that he looked like one of those GQ models that she looked through. She also had the skinny on the fact that all of his children were older adoptees. There was a set of twins named Rosalie and Jasper who were seniors along with another son named Emmet. They had two other children a boy named Edward and girl named Alice who were in our grade. I knew that with those four around I could probably make it through Monday without any of my three person fan club finding me to inflict more torture on my already bruised body.

I guess I had missed it while trying to remain ineffectually invisible. It was a big deal when just one new person moved here. I had first hand experience with this myself. My first day at Forks High I felt like I was some new found species by the way the stared and gaped at me. That was the first of many painfully uncomfortable days at my hell away from hell. Somehow and it still evades me I also in that first week managed to come under the scrutinizing eyes of two of the most hateful girls in school, Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory. I don't know what I did but from day one they made my life miserable. Aside from their malicious attention I had also managed to capture the attention of an overly hormonal guy named Mike Newton who went from loving me and following me around like a sick puppy to bullying me when I continually shot down his attempts at flirting. I made a mental note to be on the look out for the newbies and to avoid them at all costs because where ever they were today all of the "in crowd" would be.

Angela pulled into the school's parking lot and parked beside a brand new silver Volvo. Angela looked to her right and said, "Guess the fresh meat has arrived. They definitely aren't hurting for anything judging by that shiny new car." It was true most of our campus was littered with cars now newer then the 90s due to low income and lack of car dealerships. The nearest one was a two hour drive along with the nearest Walmart. We got out and headed towards the already buzzing school.


	2. Chapter 2

**EPOV**

I'd just got my room situated. It was a Sunday night and tomorrow my four siblings and I would be starting our first day at our new school. Luckily we had been able to get into our house Friday. It gave us time to get unpacked and situated in our new home. Esme, my adopted mother, had already easily adapted to this small town. She had the house set up and was already making preparations on how she was planning on redecorating and painting each of the individual rooms. She and Carlisle, my adopted father, had got a great deal on this house. It was a three story house and was almost all glass on the backside which gave us a great view of the surrounding woods. It was outside of the town limits which gave us plenty of privacy. Carlisle had already gone to the local hospital the first day we arrived to get aquatinted with some of the local doctors and to get his office somewhat organized.

We had moved here from Alaska and when Carlisle told us we would be moving my sisters, Alice and Rosalie were ecstatic thinking that we would be moving to some big city with lots of shops and an active night life. Alaska didn't have much of a social circle and the two of them craved the whole celebrity couture lifestyle. Boy oh boy were they disappointed when we pulled into the rainy little town of Forks, Washington. Although for what it was worth to them Seattle wasn't that far of a drive and Port Angeles was even closer. It was a slight improvement from Alaska so as much as they wanted to complain they knew it was better then where they were before. Besides they had their own rooms now in this behemoth of a house. I couldn't have cared less. I was much more introverted then my siblings which just left me begging to be ostracized by my fellow classmates. If it weren't for the fact that my older brother Emmet was the size of small Mack truck I'm sure the bullying would be much worse. My other brother Jasper was good at defusing any kind of negative feelings the other students had towards me but it really only helped me when he was around. When I was alone in my classes there was nothing my brothers could do for me.

I really wasn't looking forward to school tomorrow. I love my family more then anything but we weren't you're typical Beaver Cleaver family. Carlisle and Esme had been together since junior high and had gotten married when they were both eighteen. They were now just in their early thirty's, thirty three to be exact. They found out shortly after they were married that Esme was barren and was never going to be able to have children of her own. I was the first child they adopted. Once they got me they were hooked. Alice soon followed along with Emmet. Rosalie and her twin brother Jasper were the last of our happy little family to be added. Most couples have a hard time adopting due to all the rules and requirements but since they wanted older children and Carlisle had a very cush monetary flow with being a doctor they were an adoption agency's wet dream come true.

That's not what made me apprehensive though about school. The fact that we were adopted was never remembered when people saw us together. Not only were we by society's standards beautiful but to add more fuel to the fire when Rosalie and Jasper moved in Alice and Emmet found their other half. It was always the talk of the school that my siblings were dating. I never dated even though I had a steady line of admirers. This lead to the constant rumors of my sexuality. It never seems to amaze me how people will try to classify you just based on the choices you make. Just because I don't want to date a bunch of mindless, self absorbed and spoiled brats doesn't make me gay. Still as long as I could blend in and not be bothered I was happy. It was a new school and a new beginning for us and I was looking forward to starting over again.

I went into the bathroom to get ready for bed and noticed Alice had already left my outfit for me out and put my backpack with it. Alice was our little fashonista and I knew that my spunky little sister would have no problem with our new school. Her happiness was so infectious that it was almost impossible for those around her not to brighten up.

_Forks High_

I pulled my Volvo up to the school and parked. My siblings piled out of the cramped car and we headed towards the main office. School had only been in for a few weeks so we wouldn't be far behind in our classes, which really wasn't a worry for us as it was because we all do exceedingly well in school but it was still reassuring to know. It appeared that we had traded the snow though for the rain. It had done nothing but rain since we arrived here and today showed no signs of change either. I looked around the parking lot and noticed that most of the cars in the lot were older models. My Volvo that I always thought as modest still stuck out like a sore thumb. If they'd seen Rose's red BMW or Alice's Porsche we'd really been seen loud and clear. I was glade that I had the biggest car and everyone wanted to stay in our tight unit for the first few days. Last thing I wanted was to be seen in some flashy vehicle.

We went into the office and met a nice secretary named Ms. Copper. She gave us all our schedules. Alice and I had first and third period together, English and History, I had gym with Jasper fourth, and Spanish III with Emmet sixth period. We all had the same lunch also so it was nice to know that none of us would have to be alone for lunch. I felt somewhat comforted too that I would only have two classes alone. It always made me feel more confident when I had someone nearby that I knew. Not that my siblings would care. They could make new friends and fit in almost instantly. I still felt like the odd man out.

After we left the office Alice and I went to our first class. I could feel all of the eyes on us but Alice just pretended that she didn't notice. She just skipped down the halls with me in tow. We got to our first class and we both handed our English teacher our slips to sign and then we sat down in the back corner. Many of Fork's finest continued to pour into the room and of course it didn't slip past Alice that several of the ladies were staring in our general direction. All I could do was roll my eyes at her. Once class started I felt several eyes on me but I just pretended to focus on the board. Alice and I had lucked out in this class because we'd just finished this in our last school so we weren't behind. Luckily our teacher wasn't one of those ones who likes to torture the new students with painful introductions. When the bell rang we went up to the front of the class to get our locker assignments. Alice and I were assigned numbers that were right beside each other. As we left the class room to go in search of the elusive lockers I was bombarded with two rather scantily clad ladies offering to help me find my next class. Alice just laughed and danced down the hall to find Jasper and yelling that she'd see me in third period.

After some brief and rather awkward introductions with the two ladies batting their eyelashes and shamelessly flirting with me I found out their names were Jessica and Lauren, which I'm sure I'd forget by lunch because they were the typical type of girls I tried to avoid like the plague. It was determined that I had second period with Lauren and that my locker was just down the hall from hers. She volunteered to escort me to both. Not that I wanted her company but it would be a lot easier having her show me then me trying to sink or swim on my own on finding both. After stopping by locker to put away my English book we made our way to our Trigonometry class.

As we entered I saw Lauren go sit with a blonde haired blue eyed jock type. After I checked in with the teacher I headed towards the back to take a seat in the far back left corner closest to the window but a young girl had already beat me to it. Lauren was waving excitedly at me trying to coerce me into sitting with her but I just pretended like I didn't see her. Instead I opted to sit beside the girl who currently occupied the most coveted seat in the class.

As I sat beside her I noticed she was nothing like the other girls I'd seen in my English class. She had an old sweater on that seemed to engulf her figure and some plain jeans. She looked up suddenly aware that someone had taken the seat beside her. She had an apprehensive look on her face that disappeared suddenly to a forced smile that I'm sure was to seem friendly towards the new guy but it came out more as a pained look. She had the most beautiful deep brown pools for eyes I'd ever seen, and rich chestnut colored hair with a slight curl that looked natural, and she was pale. Really pale. Like Cullen pale and we'd been Alaska. Normally I try to stay to myself but I found myself reaching my hand out and introducing myself. She looked at my hand for a second and then reached out and shook it and introduced herself in the most timid beautiful I'd ever heard. She said her name was Isabella but she went by Bella. I got a shock the second we shook but I chalked it up to static electricity.

Class started and she turned her full attention to the board. She seemed in deep concentration. It appeared math was not her best subject because she was jotting down everything the teacher said. Math for me was one of my best subjects and this was rather simple so I spent most of the class staring at her and trying to figure out the looks she'd given me. Unlike most of the people here, especially the girls, she wasn't obsessed with finding everything out about me. I couldn't decide if it was refreshing to not have my privacy invaded for once or if I was disappointed that she didn't want to invade it.

Class ended and as we both were packing up I was about to ask her about her schedule to see if I could get her to talk some more to me but Lauren showed up and offered to help me to my next class. As she saw Bella she made a snide remark to her regarding her outfit and Bella just blushed and left the class room. I just looked at her with a look of disapproval. Lauren responded, "What? She's nothing around here. Just one of the freaks that moved here last year and never really decided to be friendly with anyone, which is just fine by us because she is completely out of our class. So are you ready to find your History class? I'm pretty sure you have that with Jessica." I couldn't ditch her because I couldn't find Alice. I also didn't get the whole class comment she made but said nothing because as far as I was concerned this Lauren had none and I was sure Bella had it in spades. On the way to class while Lauren prattled on about miscellaneous subjects that I didn't hear I saw Bella slipping in amongst the students to her next class cringing away from them all and then she was gone. I wonder what that's all about. Surely someone as beautiful as her would have lots of friends around here.

All of a sudden Lauren was in my face. "Hello! Earth to Edward. Did you hear me? We're here. Jessica can help you from here. I'll see you at lunch and I'll save you a seat," she said as she was about to take flight from batting her eyelashes so much. "No don't worry about it. I'll probably sit with my siblings during lunch. Thank you though," I told her. I wish she could figure out the disinterest in my voice so I could be rid of her. I ran into the class before she could assault me with more compliments and attempts at flirting. I gave the teacher my slip and sat down next to Alice just as Jessica sauntered up.

**BPOV**

Angela and I made our way to our first period history class. We could hear the whole school a buzz with gossip about the five new additions to our small town. It'd already gotten started that four of them were together together as in dating. Well as far as I was concerned they were all adopted so they weren't blood so I didn't see what the big deal was. Of course around here anything even slightly scandalous was blown way out of proportion so I felt sorry for the new kids already. They already were being scrutinized and all they did was walk in. It was also already spreading like wild fire that they were hot.

After first period was done Angela went in search of her beau Ben. They'd been together since freshman year and were just so darn cute together. I was envious of them but I knew it wasn't something I would be able to have because of Charlie. Just thinking about him made my ribs and leg ach.

I stopped by my locker to put my history book up and grab my trig book when I noticed a short, petite looking girl standing next to my locker. As I was opened my locker she turned and I got a good look at her. She was barely 4' 11" with short black spiked hair to her ears and big blue eyes. She stuck her hand out and grabbed mine and introduced herself as Alice Cullen. Wow. Step back and regain your personal space and then get as far from this energy ball as possible because where she was all eyes would be and the last thing I needed was for all eyes to be on me with her. I very quietly introduced myself and just as I was about to break away I saw a very handsome tall lanky blond guy walking up to her. Before I could retrieve my hand back from the pixie like girl in front of me she was introducing me to her boyfriend Jasper Hale. Luckily for me Jasper was aware of personal space and told her to release my hand and he took mine in his hand and kissed it and then introduced himself. After I got through his introduction I was able to disappear in the rush of students scrambling to get to class.

I barely made it in time to my trig class as the final bell rang and grabbed my seat in the far back left corner of the room. After I got my book and paper out I was just zoning in my thoughts when I became aware of someone sitting beside me. I looked over and there was the most handsome. No handsome doesn't even describe him. Beautiful? Yeah beautiful seemed to capture his features. They were so well chiseled and refined. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He had the most gorgeous bronze colored hair that had that wonderfully I don't give a shit look to it that just screamed god. He broke my trance by introducing himself and sticking his hand out. I took it and felt a shock when we touched. I chalked it up to static electricity. His name was Edward Cullen and as he introduced himself I found myself falling into the most beautiful shade of green eyes I'd ever seen. It was almost unnatural how green they were. Luckily before I could make a fool of myself the teacher started talking and I was able to adjust my attention to trig, one of my worst subjects.

Class was over before I knew it. As I was gathering my stuff up I was aware of Edward watching me. I don't know how my luck could be so bad. I had wanted to avoid the five new students but somehow had managed to meet three of them before third period even began. Just then my luck decided to go from bad to worse and just like I knew being around the new students Jessica pounced on me and took the opportunity to make a snide remark about my mother's sweater. However with her taking Edward's attention from me I was able to escape into the hallway away from him.

When I got to my third period Spanish III class I saw a familiar inky head of hair bouncing in her seat barely able to contain her excitement and seeing me again. She waved me over and not wanting to be rude sighed in defeat and sat with her. Hey I know what it was like being the new kid. You cling to anyone you recognize for the first day or two. After another few days she'd forget all about me and be off with her new popular friends and I wouldn't have to worry about it any more.

"Hi Bella," she said in her tinkling happy voice, "I'm so glade I ran into you again. I was worried I'd scared you off in the hallway earlier. Jasper says I tend to be a little overwhelming to people who are just meeting me for the first time. I was just so excited to meet my locker neighbor and have it be someone who seems genuinely nice." I was once again overwhelmed with how fast she could talk and just stared at her for a second before answering her, "Yeah you were a little overwhelming but you just startled me is all. So how do you like Forks so far?" I asked. "It's ok. I thought when Carlisle said we were moving it'd be to a big city but this is fine. We traded snow for ran," Alice answered laughing. Just then the teacher came in and class started. I was starting to like Alice but I put that thought out of my head. Like I said within two or three days I'm sure she'd be ushered into the popular crowd of kids and I'd never see or hear from her again. Which was good. That's how I wanted it to be. The less friends I had the better. The less I had to lie to about my home life.

At the end of class I slipped out fast enough that Alice couldn't corner me. I was on my way to lunch to meet Angela and Ben at our table but before I made it there Mike grabbed me and pulled me into the boy's bathroom. This had become one of our normal routines at this point. Mike was the school's heart throb, although I think he was now had a run for his money with Edward, with looks like his he would definitely win over most of the girls hearts. My first week here as a new student sophomore year he had relentlessly pursued me. After I turned him down publicly several times he gave up on doing it the nice way. He had decided to just assault me daily after that. It didn't even matter because after Charlie there was no way to tell what Mike did. He started out just pushing me and hitting me and trying to intimidate me. Only a few weeks after that he started groping me and forcing me to do stuff with him I didn't want to do. Most days I could get off with just him sticking his tongue down my throat or letting him grope me but every once in awhile when he was feeling extremely frisky he'd force himself fully on me or make me blow him.

Today he grabbed me rather forcefully though and dragged me into the boy's bathroom. Apparently earlier he had tried to hit on Jasper's twin sister Rosalie and she had shot him down and his ego was bruised. He locked the bathroom door and threw me on the floor and had my jeans off before I even could register what he was doing. He was on top of me so fast I couldn't even cry out. He thrust into me so hard I thought he might tare something. Tears started welling up in my eyes and before I could stop them they were spilling down my cheeks. Mike smacked me and told me to stop it and that I was ruining the mood for him as he continually and violently pounded me into the bathroom floor. "God Bella you're always so tight. I can't believe that stupid bitch Rosalie shot me down. You like that don't you? Yeah I know you do. You're just crying for more. Here let me give it to you harder. That's right cry out for me you dirty whore!" I was too scared to say or do anything. I just closed my eyes and bit my bottom lip waiting for him to be done.

After another minute he spazzemed on me and was done. He pulled out and cleaned himself up and left me there on the bathroom floor sobbing. After I was able to get my tears under control I got dressed and washed my face. I limped to the cafeteria hardly able to walk after the internal pounding I'd just taken, that coupled with my sore leg from last night I made it to the table and had pretty much missed lunch and Angela and Ben. I sat down and quickly ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I looked up and saw the Cullens sitting a table by themselves. I recognized Alice, Jasper, and Edward. The other two I realized must be Emmet and Rosalie. My breath hitched. As beautiful as I thought Alice was Rosalie was a model. She was beautiful with her long blond hair cascading down her back with her couture outfit and purse. On her left was a huge guy who was laughing at something. He had soft brown curly hair and was just as beautiful as the rest. He looked like a linebacker or body builder. They were all so perfect. It was amazing how such beautiful orphans all ended up together. The bell rang and as I gingerly got up I noticed Alice and Edward staring at me. I gave them a simple wave to appease them and make them feel slightly welcomed and recognized.

As I limped to fourth period English Angela caught up to me and walked with me. "So where were you at lunch Bella," Angela asked. I looked at her with that gaze and she instantly understood. "You know Bella you really need to do something about that. Mike has no right to do that to you," Angela chastised me. "I know Angela but it's kind of hard when Mike is the quarter back of the football team and we've yet to loose a game. Besides it'd be my word against his and you know the faculty bow down to him," I responded, "Besides it's not everyday and it's not always this bad. I can make it through another two years and then it'll be done and I'll never have to deal with it again. Plus I just prefer to forget about it. It's really humiliating and I don't want it all over school about what's been going on. You know Lauren and Jessica would turn it all around and it'd end up being me assaulting and raping him."

We sat down and spent the next hour studying the inner monolog of Shakespeare's _Romeo and Juliet._ I loved it. It was one of my favorite plays and I knew it like the back of my hand. Angela however had so many problems translating the meanings that I spent most of the hour explaining it all to her. Finally the bell rang to dismiss us and I had to leave her and go to Biology. I didn't mind it because I had the table all to myself. I didn't have to worry about having any rude partners. I promised to meet her at her car after sixth period gym and with that I was off to my locker to get my biology book and then to class.

As I entered biology I sat at my normal seat and saw the most beautiful and familiar messy bronze hair at the front of the class talking to the teacher. The teacher pointed to my desk and I saw those all too familiar green eyes approaching me with a dazzling smile on his face. It was so big it reached his eyes and made them sparkle. I couldn't help but smile back and for once it wasn't faked. He sat down next to me and I jokingly said to him, "Hey there. You stalking me or something?" He laughed again and just shook his head. "So how do you like Fork's so far?" I found myself invariably asking before I could stop myself. What was I doing I chastised myself. I shouldn't be talking this way to him. He's not in my league and he's pretty soon going to be treating me just as badly as the rest of the student body with the exception of Angela and Ben. He looked at me so deep in my eyes that it was unnerving and said, "It's starting to look up. I'm still adjusting to all the rain. I'm more used to the snow." Before I could register what he said Jessica was at our table practically sitting in his lap and ignoring me like I wasn't even there. Mike walked by and gave me the most self satisfied look I'd ever seen. I didn't think it was possible but I went a few shades whiter then I already was and had to swallow the bile that was threatening to come up. Next thing I knew Edward was asking me if I was alright and Mike's spell was broken. Jessica flipped her blond hair off her shoulders and tried to regain Edward's attention as I laid my head down on the cool lab table. A few minutes later Mr. Banner started the day's lesson on Mitosis and Meiosis.

After biology I rushed out and to the worst class known to man. Gym. Not only was it bad because I was horrible at sports but I also had it with not only Mike but also Lauren and Jessica. I change in and out in the bathroom stalls so that no one can see my bruises but Jessica and Lauren always manage to corner me before or after and really just put me down and make me feel just great about myself.

By the end of the day I was never so happy to see Angela and her little beat up Honda civic. I climbed in and we rode back to my house in silence. I told her thanks as I got out and told her I'd drive myself tomorrow since she had a Beta club meeting that afternoon. I walked into the house as she pulled away and began to mentally prepare myself for when Charlie arrived home.

I had just finished putting the chicken and rice casserole in the oven when I heard the front door bang open. I silently prayed that he'd had a good day at work and that wasn't in a bad mood. As it turned out luck was not on my side yet again. He came into the kitchen and realized dinner wasn't ready yet and threw me against the wall. "What the hell? You go to school and come home and you can't even have dinner ready for me when I get home from working my ass off all day so that you can have your clothes and food in your belly. What good are you?" He kicked me a few more times in my already bruised ribs and then went to the fridge to grab a beer. He lit a cigarette and went into the living room to watch ESPN Sports center. Thirty minutes later dinner was ready and I served him and then went into the kitchen to eat by myself. When I was done I did the dishes and put the leftovers in the fridge.

I went up to my room and got all of my toiletries' together and went to get a shower and get ready for bed. As I got out of the shower and toweled off I put on an old t-shirt that was my mother's and threw on a pair of pajama pants. I climbed into bed sore and exhausted. I was bruised and broken and I just wanted to pass out. Before I slipped into sleep my door creaked open and I could smell beer and cigarettes waft into the room. Why not? My day couldn't be any worse. Charlie climbed into my bed and ripped my pants off and threw them along with my panties into the corner. As he thrusted in and out all I could imagine were the most beautiful green eyes I'd ever seen. I know it was ridiculous to even think that that beautiful man would want someone like me but it made Charlie's thrusts in and out bearable. I was pulled out of my day dream when Charlie bit down on my nipple extra hard. I screamed in pain and he punched me in the face. Not hard enough to bruise but enough to stun and punish me for me cry. By the time he was done I was so sore and bruised I didn't think I'd be able to make it into school tomorrow. My nipple was bleeding from where he bit me and after he left I just curled up into a ball and cried.

I didn't go to school on Tuesday. I was way too sore and bruised. Charlie had meant to punch me softly last night but he still left a slight grey bruise and I didn't want Angela seeing it and raising unwanted questions again. I mistakenly pushed my sleeve up too high once and she say the train wreak that was my arm. After Tuesday the rest of the week went as usual. I talked to Alice in fourth period still and made small talk with Edward in second and fifth.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Ok so I'm seriously embarrassed. I've been writing this at home and having problems with the internet, hence the wait on chpt 3. So then I started more at work and emailed what I had to my home email last night. Well I reread what I posted to refresh where I left off only to find out that it got messed up. So here I've spent an extra 30minutes fixing it and now I'm reposting it so it actually makes sense. Sorry sorry sorry again. Hopefully I'll get chpt 4 up soon.**

Chapter 3

**EPOV**

Well the first day was finally over. I was on my way out to the car to meet up with my siblings and I was actually feeling pretty good. Normally I was the one who got picked on when we started at a new school, but here I had several females throwing themselves at me. Although none of them were anything like what I wanted in a girlfriend. Although not like I would know never having had one. I knew though if I did that she wouldn't be into picking on others or worried about her looks like Lauren and Jessica were. I'd definitely have to make sure they were aware tomorrow that I wasn't interested in them. My siblings would definitely get a kick out of that. I'm sure Emmet was surprised I didn't need him today. He's normally ready and on the look out for any ass poundings coming my way. I know Alice had a good day just by the way she was going on at lunch. Rosalie was complaining about some guy who kept hitting on her and how she'd turned him down several times already.

I reached the car and all I could hear was Alice prattling on about a girl she had met at her locker and then in her Spanish class. All Jasper did was sit back and smile at her. It amazed me how he was able to one put up with her hyper antics and two how well he balanced her with his calm quiet nature. As we piled in the car I could hear Alice still going on about her new friend as she referred to her as. It didn't surprise me. Out of all five of us Alice would be the first to make a friend. Rosalie was just to aloof for her own good sometimes, Emmet's size intimidated people at first until they found out how sweet and loving he is, Jasper is just very quiet and analyzes people first to see who is truly good and worthy of being a friend to, and well I'm normally picked on because of my quiet nature and choice of music and literature. Finally after hearing Alice go on for a few minutes Jasper asked what her new friend's name was. Alice just replied, "her name's Bella." So it seems my dear sister had also encountered the beautiful shy girl. May be Alice will get her out of her shell I laughed to myself.

_Tuesday_

The next day we arrived at school and I was looking forward to Trig class more so then normal. I couldn't wait to see Bella again and may be get to talk to her a bit more. May be I could talk her into sitting with me today at lunch if Alice hadn't already assaulted the poor girl and roped her into it. English dragged by for the first hour and Alice just stared at me wondering why I kept fidgeting. Lauren and Jessica practically attacked me as the bell rang in an attempt to walk me to trig. Alice just skipped off chuckling at my reaction.

"Ladies," I started, "I really appreciate your enthusiasm but I'm really not interested in this kind of attention right now. I'm just getting settled into a new school and home." Oh boy that didn't go over very well. Both Jessica and Lauren looked at me like I'd just told them that their favorite boutique was going out of business. Finally Lauren just looked me square in the eye and said, "Look Cullen. You've just made the biggest mistake you could make at this school. Jessica and I are the two hottest bitches here at Forks and we can either make or break your next two years here at Forks. You should be so lucky to have us both after you. Also you have no right to be so picky since you come from a family full of incesting siblings. What's your problem any ways? Is it because we're not related to you?" Wow I couldn't believe something so simple had brought all that on. "Yeah," Jessica retorted, "Just wait until we tell everyone how you've treated us. No one around here is going to accept you or your sick family. I'm sure Mike will enjoy having some fun with you too. From what I hear your sister shot him down several times too." With that they stalked off. Hmmmmm I thought. That could have gone better.

I made it to my trig class just as the bell rang. I sat in my seat and was sadly disappointed to find that my neighbor wasn't here yet. I wonder if she's running late. By the time the bell rang I'd realized that Bella must have been late and had to go to tardy hall. I went to my history class and got several dirty looks from Jessica which I simply ignored. The class was fairly boring. Most of it I had already covered in my old school and what we hadn't Jasper had taught me through all of his reading. He was way to into history sometimes, but it helped me get straight A's in history so who was I to complain. As class drew to a close I was looking forward to lunch so that I could talk to Alice and see if she had spoke to Bella today.

As I made my way to the lunch room, Lauren and Jessica stepped out into the hallway blocking me from going any further. As I came to a stop in front of them someone grabbed me from behind and threw me into the lockers. I could feel blood dripping down my chin. Great my nose was bleeding. Well I knew something like this was coming. You don't upset the two biggest bitches in school and not get an ass beating. As I turned around Mike Newton was towering over me. "I hear you were insulting my girls. You should have just enjoyed whatever ride they were willing to give ya because now you've got me on your ass and you're gunna hate the ride I'm gunna give ya. Nobody insults my girls and gets away with it. You may be the new dream boat around here but you're just the flavor of the week buddy and when the newness wears off you'll be nothing. So from now on stay away from these two and stay out of my way or else you'll get a worse beating then this. Understood?" All I could do is shake my head yes and with that he gave me a kick in the chest and left going into the cafeteria with Lauren and Jessica. Great the second biggest guy in school had taken a disliking to me and I had two classes with him. Well Emmet I'm sure was just waiting for something like this to happen.

I went into the bathroom to clean up my nose and noticed how swollen it was. Great! No way to hide that. Guess Emmet was going to have to find out. Although I was old enough now I didn't need big brother coming to my rescue any more. I'm sure that'd just earn me a few more ass poundings if I did. I made my way out of the bathroom and into the cafeteria. My siblings had already got their food and settled in at our table. As I grabbed a pizza from the lunch line and sat down Alice was already staring at my nose. "Edward what happened to your nose?"

I replied, "Just a run in with some of Fork's finest residents. Apparently Lauren and Jessica aren't used to rejection."

Emmet burst out laughing, "You mean that two girls did that to ya bro?"

"No Emmet. Their big body guard did." I replied, "It's no biggie though. I can handle it on my own."

"Awwww my little Eddie is all grown up and loosing his own battles now. Well listen man if it gets to be too much just let me know and I'll step in and kick some ass," Emmet said. With that bell rang and lunch was over. I didn't even get to ask Alice about Bella. I didn't see her in the cafeteria though either like I had the day before.

As I left my fourth period gym class I was excited that may be I had just missed her all day and that she would be in biology. No such luck. She must be out sick today I guess. Hopefully it wasn't anything too serious. I wish I knew where she lived I'd go visit her and help her with her missed class work. Finally it was sixth period and I was in Spanish with Emmet. We'd already become fluent in Spanish and it just seemed like a waste of our time to be taking Spanish here. Esme, our mother, had wanted us to be fluent when we were young and had taught us herself. It was the only language though that Forks offered so we were forced to stick through it.

Finally. Day two was done with. I couldn't be more excited to get home. I just wanted to escape that horribly stereotypical school. Alice was less excited as well. It seems she had missed having Bella around just as much as I had. Jasper of course was the same as always and Rose and Emmet were just making out in the back seat. Finally when they managed to disentangle themselves Emmet informed us that tomorrow he'd be trying out for the football team. So of course that meant he and Rose would be driving separately tomorrow in his jacked up Jeep. Rose was arguing over taking her BMW instead but Emmet was hell bent on taking his jeep which was probably for the best since this little town would probably die if they saw Rose's bright red BMW.

**BPOV**

I woke up so sore Tuesday morning after all the beatings I took on Monday. I decided after seeing the slight bruise on my cheek that it'd be best to stay home today instead of trying to cover it up with consealor. It would be easier to hide tomorrow. That said I looked out my window and saw Charlie had already gone to work. Great I could go down and eat some breakfast. As I finished eating I went about cleaning up the kitchen. By lunch time I was satisfied with how the kitchen sparkled and made my way into the living room. Yuck! It was filthy. I can't believe Charlie hadn't beat me for letting it get this bad before now. It was covered in beer cans and the ash trays were overflowing. There were old plates with dinners from last week on the floor, and newspapers were strewn everywhere. It smelled like something had died in there.

I got started on gathering all the beer cans up off the floor and throwing them in a trash bag along with dumping all the ash trays. After that I picked up all the dishes and put them along with the ash trays in the kitchen sink to soak and began picking up all the newspapers that were strewn about the room. After I dusted the TV and the furniture I began vacuuming the carpet. Wow I really can't believe how bad this room had gotten and the Charlie let it get this bad. Finally I had the room straightened up and I went back into the kitchen to wash the dishes that I'd left soaking. After I dried and replaced all the dishes to their proper places in the cabinet I replaced all the ash trays to their spots in the living room.

I slowly crept up the stairs and into Charles' room and grabbed all his dirty laundry and began washing it all along with mine. Around three o'clock I started working on dinner, spaghetti with meatballs and garlic bread. After the clothes were washed and dried and I had put the garlic bread in the oven I brought the laundry into the living room and began folding it all. Just before five I pulled the garlic bread out and put two pieces on a plate along with a helping of spaghetti and several meatballs for Charlie along with an ice cold beer. I ran up stairs to put the laundry away and was done just as Charlie pulled into the drive way. I may have missed a day of school but I got plenty done around the house and I figured it would put Charlie in a good mood at least. If I was lucky any ways.

As I climbed down the stairs to get some dinner Charlie seemed in a decent mood. This might be good. "Looks like you were busy today Isabella. How is it that yesterday you didn't manage to get my dinner ready but today you managed to clean house and have dinner ready? You been having people over here? Is that why you couldn't manage to have dinner ready yesterday? You been screwing around you little whore?" Charlie called from the kitchen. As I entered I just shook my head no and grabbed a plate of food. Just then the phone rang and Charlie answered it. He got a very disgusted look on his face then. He hung up and immediately I knew something was wrong and I was in for it. "So Isabella you decided to play hooky today huh? Thought your old man wouldn't find out about it? How do you think that's going to look for me? My own bratty kid, skipping school? You're supposed to be helping to set an example around this piss poor little town remember?"

I tried to respond that I hadn't gone because the bruise on my face was too dark to hide but before I could say anything he grabbed me by my hair and was throwing me into the wall. I started to curl up into a ball but then remembered that it only made him madder when I tried to protect myself and just laid there while he kicked me a few good times. After that he grabbed his dinner and stalked off into the den and switched the TV on. I slowly got up assessing the damage to my ribs, legs, and arms. It wasn't too bad. About the same as before, it just meant that they would be sore a few days longer now. I went to the table and started to take a bite out of the spaghetti when Charlie stomped back into the room. "Oh no you don't! If you don't go to school you don't eat." Then he grabbed my fixed plate and threw it against the wall. The spaghetti plopped onto the floor and the plate shattered into several large shards. "Clean up your mess and put dinner away." With that he stomped back into the den and I was left with a big red mess on the wall and floor to clean up.

After taking about an hour to scrub the wall free of spaghetti sauce and cleaning up all the broken pieces I put dinner away and went upstairs for a shower. I crawled into bed and set my alarm. There was no way I could miss school tomorrow. I grabbed my cordless phone and called Angela to tell her to pick me up at our normal time and hung up. As I drifted off to sleep I thought back to when mom was around. I missed her so much. I couldn't remember a time when we had all been a big happy family but when Charlie was gone mom and I would have girl time. She and I were always able to cheer each other up. We also were able to absorb some of Charlie's anger and save each other from such horrible beatings. As I drifted off to sleep I imagined how different life would have been if mom and I had left Charlie. Just packed up one day while he was at work, waited till he came home and got smashed, and then just piled into the car and ran. As far as I knew mom didn't have any family so it would just be me and her against the world but I doubted the world could be nearly as cruel as Charlie. That was the last thought I had as I drifted off to sleep.

The next thing I knew I woke up to a freezing ice cube induced shower and Charlie yelling at me to get my lazy ass out of bed. I stumbled out of bed and looked at my clock it was only 6 a.m. Angela wouldn't be here for another hour. Charlie threw me into the wall and said he was personally dropping me off at school to ensure that I made it this time. He left the room and I quickly got dressed. I threw on my black flare jeans, my mother's blue sweater and a pair of vans and rushed down the stairs. I grabbed my bag and was outside before Charlie could get mad at me for dawdling. It was freezing outside and my hair was soaking wet. My teeth were chattering and I'm sure my lips were blue but Charlie refused to turn the heat on. It was like he did everything he could to torture me in any way possible.

Charlie dropped me off at school at 6:30am and I went to the pay phones in the parking lot to call Angela and tell her not to pick me up. School didn't even start for another 45 minutes and they didn't unlock the doors until 7am because they didn't want students going in early and getting into trouble. Finally at 5 after I saw Angela pull up and I went to meet her at her car. Not even a full minute after she pulled up I saw the silver Volvo pull up with Edward, Alice, and Jasper. I couldn't help but stare as they pulled in three spots down from Angela. An unfamiliar jacked up jeep pulled in beside them and I could barely make out two people in it. It looked like a blond definitely in the passenger's seat and a guy was in the driver's seat.

"Girl you're freezing. What happened to you and why didn't you dry your hair this morning if you were going to be outside?" Angela asked.

"Charlie happened," I replied, "He wanted to ensure that I got up in time by dumping a bucked of ice cold water on me and then insisted upon dropping me off at school on his way to work."

"So you mean to tell me that he woke you up an hour before school even opens, dumped freezing water on you, and then left you to wait outside in the cold?" Angela questioned.

"Yup. That about sums up my morning for ya in a nut shell," I replied, "Come on lets head in before the newbie's come up. I'm freezing and need to thaw any ways."

Just as we were making our escape Alice came running up with Jasper in tow and Edward following. It seemed that Emmet and Rosalie wanted to stay in his jeep and have a sex ed lesson of their own.

"Hi Bella! How are you? We were worried when we didn't see you yesterday. What happened to you? Oh wow Bella you're lips are purple. Why didn't you dry your hair this morning? You know you're going….." Alice was blurting out a mile a minute. Suddenly she was cut off by Jasper covering her mouth with his hand and Edward chiming in, "Alice give the girl a break. Jeez. You just walk up to her and start blurting out a million questions." "Sorry," Alice said, "I get a little carried away. But seriously Bella, why didn't you at least dry your hair?"

"I didn't exactly have time to this morning," I replied turning about 5 shades of red.

"Yeah she just had to get here in plenty of time before school was even open," Angela blurted out. I elbowed her in the side and just then the warning bell rang. All three of them gave us a strange look as we rushed off to first period.

_First period_

"Angela! What the hell? You totally threw me under the short bus back there," I cried at her before class started.

"What? It was just a little teasing. Besides they're going to figure you out sooner or later Bella. I know I have. I just can't do anything to help you. May be one of them can," Angela replied. "Besides it's not like I said Charlie is an abusive prick and Bella's just too chicken shit to do anything about it. Now did I?"

"Angela how many times do I have to tell you? You don't know what you're talking about. I'm just really clumsy and bruise easily," I replied.

Angela dropped the conversation before it could go any further.

Just then the teacher walked in thankfully and class started. My teeth were still chattering away but I was starting to get feeling back in my fingers. My nose was starting to warm as well and I could feel it starting to turn red from the heat.

I swear sometimes Angela just got carried away with what she thought she knew. Most of which she was right about but I was never going to let her know that. I decided to put my hair up in a bun because there was no way it was going to dry anytime soon. It was too thick and way too wet. Having it up would at least keep it from hanging on me all day and possibly making me sick.

After first period was done second flew by. I went to my locker before going to trig and Alice met me there all full of bubbles and questions.

"So Bella. What was up with your friend's comment this morning? And why didn't you dry your hair?" Alice asked.

"Angela just likes to crack jokes even though not everyone finds them funny. And I just ran out of time to dry my hair is all. No biggie," I replied.

"Oh," was all Alice said in reply, "Ok well if you say so. Have fun in trig and watch out for my brother. He's ready to pounce on ya too with his own questions." With that Alice went dancing down the halls to her next class.

Great I thought. Now I have another round of questions to look forward to with someone I don't know and who doesn't know anything about me and I don't want him to know anything about me. It was dangerous for me to have friends. It was bad enough I had Angela. Charlie didn't mind because he knew she was a quiet one and wouldn't say anything unless I asked her to. Which he knew that would never happen. The more people who suspected something though the more dangerous it became and it was obvious this morning when Edward, Alice, and Jasper walked up to us that they suspected something. I guess that I could just skip trig and avoid any questioning looks from Edward but really what good was it going to do. Eventually we would have to see each other. We shared two classes together and there was no avoiding him. Unless may be he was finally ready to move up in the social standing of the school. I had missed all of yesterday so who knows. May be Lauren and Jessica had scooped him up and carried him off to the realm of popularity.

I walked into the classroom and went straight to my seat ignoring Mike and Jessica's glares. I sat down and pretended like I didn't see either one of them and proceeded to pull out my book and notebook. I could over hear Jessica talking to Mike. Well everyone could because she spoke loudly enough so everyone could hear it. I didn't catch a name but I could tell they were talking about who Mike's newest victim of abuse was. Well I guess that's good news for me. He'll leave me alone for awhile until he gets sick of beating up some poor guy.

Just then Edward walked into the class and sat down beside me. He seemed quiet today which was a nice change because I was still immensely sore and really wasn't in a very social mood. Besides I figured Jessica would be over soon to keep him entertained. Surprisingly though she didn't. He just started getting ready for class and as he sat there waiting I just stared at him. Finally I broke the silence.

"So. How do you like school so far? I see you managed to survive two and half days here now," I asked. As he turned to look at me I noticed it looked like his nose was a little swollen as was his lower lip. Hmmmm I wonder how that happened.

"It's fine. Not much different then any other school. A little more small town 'I know where you live so you better watch what you do,' but overall nothing special," he replied, "Also it's more rainy then what I'm used to. I miss the snow but I'm sure you guys get snow too."

"Yeah that's the only bad thing about small towns. Very few secrets around them and even less privacy, and yeah we get snow. Normally not until November end of October though," I replied. "You know your nose looks kind of big and your lip looks swollen. Are you ok?"

"Thanks," he replied. I turned red realizing how that must have sounded.

"Oh no. No. I didn't mean it like that. I mean it looks sore like you ran into something and it was swollen. Not that you have a big nose. I'm sorry. That came out wrong," I back tracked.

He just started laughing. "No it's alright. I knew what you meant. I just wanted to give you a hard time is all. I got in a fight yesterday and got knocked in the nose and the mouth. No biggie. The swelling is really the only thing that resulted from it. So what was up with you this morning? Your hair was soaking wet and your lips were purple."

"Oh that was nothing. I just woke up late and didn't have time to blow dry my hair. Charlie had said he'd bring me to school and so I had to rush to be ready in time," I replied.

"Well why didn't you just ride with Angela? That would have given you time to dry your hair at least. You looked like you were freezing out there," he said.

"I didn't have time to call her and ask. Charlie was in a rush and I just ran out the door not even thinking about if it was cold out or not," I replied. There that sounded like a good enough excuse. It happens to plenty of women in the morning.

"Oh," was all he managed to say.

Just then the teacher started class and I began to take really careful and informative notes on the lesson he was giving. I looked over a few times and Edward was just staring at me which made me blush more and turn away as fast as possible. As class was drawing to a close I began dreading going to lunch. I was sure Mike had some more "issues" he wanted to work through and I really just wanted to be left alone and go to the cafeteria with Angela and eat. It'd been almost a full 24 hours since I'd last eaten.

The bell rang and I was out the door as fast as I could. I ran to my locker and threw my books in, and raced towards the cafeteria to get in line for lunch. Surprisingly Mike walked by and didn't even try to stop me. I couldn't remember the last time he left me completely alone. He always had to do something to remind me that he could do what ever he wanted to me whenever he felt like it. As I got into line with Angela, Alice and Jasper came up behind us and started talking about one of the classes they had together. As I got to the front of the line I pulled out my green lunch card as fast as possible and tried to slide it back in as soon as I could before Alice could see. Of course I should have known she would have seen it though. No matter how fast I tried to be about it. As Angela and I sat down with Ben, Alice and Jasper followed and sat down. Hmmmm no luck with them climbing the social ladder just yet. But given their looks and dress I'm sure it was coming. Just a few more days Bella and then they'll be on their way up and out of our social circle and I won't have to worry about them getting too close. A few minutes later Rosalie and Emmet came and sat down in front of us.

Alice made the introductions and although Rosalie came off a bit icy she seemed like she had a good heart once she warmed up to you. Emmet however was a big clown. He was taking his orange peel and putting it in his mouth and making jokes about his "grill" before I had even taken a bite of my pizza.

"Bella. What was that green card you showed the lunch lady," Alice asked. Great I knew she would ask that if she saw it. So here it comes. The big social standing division was about to be made. Before I could say anything though, Lauren walked by and answered for me.

"It's for kids whose dad's are raging alcoholics and don't care to spend money on food for their unwanted kids," she snidely replied. With that she sauntered off and sat with Jessica. Mike was missing which I found to be weird and again I felt a twinge of guilt for the poor person he was choosing to torment instead of me today. Alice and Rosalie just gave me a sad look like they didn't know what to say so they would just like sympathetic in hopes it would be enough.

Just then Angela spoke up for me, "Lauren is such a bitch! I swear. It's not that at all. The town gave Chief Swan that as another perk for being the sheriff because they knew they couldn't afford a great salary but that it would help with what they couldn't pay him by making sure his kid got to eat lunch everyday free."

"Oh that was nice of the town to do," Alice piped up.

"Yeah. I wish they would have done that for us with dad being such a world famous doctor and all," Emmet replied.

"Oh please," Rosalie replied, "They'd have taken it back after one day of trying to feed you big bear."

At that we all cracked up laughing. Just then Edward walked in looking a little rough and worse for wear. He sat down next to Emmet and just sighed.

"What happened to you Eddie," Emmet asked.

"Nothing. Just got hung up before getting here, and don't call me Eddie. You know I hate that," Edward replied.

I just stared at him dissecting what he said and reading his facial expressions. It looked like he may be Mike's new toy. I really hoped not. It'd make me feel even worse to know that instead of messing with me Mike was picking on him. I mean really. What could he have done to deserve the wrath of Mike? Although in all truth what had I really done too? I'd have to remember to thank Angela for making up that quick story too about the card. She knew I was embarrassed to have to have it much less have someone question me about it. Especially when it was Forks' newest additions who seemed to have plenty of money to go around.

Lunch was about half way done and I noticed Edward didn't make any moves towards the lunch line. So I decided to do something I normally wouldn't do because it was a gesture of friendship and like I said before. Charlie doesn't like me to have friends because that meant someone to confide in and possibly let slip what goes on in the Swan home. I slowly cut my pizza in half and slid it on a napkin towards him. He looked up at me with those beautiful sad green eyes. "What's this for," he asked.

"What does it look like," I snapped. Not meaning to sound harsh but knowing I did. I back tracked. "I just figured you needed something in your stomach. Can't have my lab partner fainting on me during class because he didn't get a chance to eat lunch," I smiled and winked at him. It was so cute too because all he did was smile and blush back. That smile though was all I needed to feel better about what I'd done. Alice I noticed kept going back and forth between the two of us with this goofy look on her face. I couldn't tell what she was thinking but I was sure it wasn't good. Angela openly gaped at me and Ben just took his finger and pushed her chin up to help close her mouth. Emmet was about to dive on the pizza when Rosalie smacked him and told him to leave it because it was for his smaller brother.

A few minutes later with barely enough time for us to eat our pizza the bell rang and we had to go to our fourth period classes. As Angela and I left I turned to her, "Hey Ang. Thanks for what you said back there about the card. I hate having to use that thing but it's even worse when someone asks about it, and Lauren certainly didn't help matters."

"No prob Bells. That's what friends are for not just throwing you under the short bus anyways. Although I must say that was pretty selfless for you to share that little pathetic excuse for a pizza with Edward. I think someone has a cruuuuuusssssshhhhh," she called as she disappeared down the hall. No she couldn't be right about that. It wasn't a crush. I wasn't allowed to have those. They were dangerous for anyone most of all me. Besides it's called a crush for a reason because that what happens to your heart when you find out they don't feel the same, and there was no way he did. He was the "hot new guy" that every girl around here wanted. I was just the washed out, beat up, quiet girl that no one spoke to unless it was in a derogatory way.

As fourth period ended I headed towards biology and wondered what Edward had to say about what happened before he came into the cafeteria. If it was Mike messing with him may be I could say something to Mike to get him to lay off of him. What ever Mike's reasoning was I'm sure it didn't merit him beating Edward up. Just then Edward walked into the class room and sat down beside me. "So what happened during lunch today," I asked him.

"What do you mean," he responded, "You were there. You gave me half your pizza and Emmet tried to inhale it before I could even process what you'd done." He grinned.

"No. I mean why you were late to lunch," I asked.

"I just got held up at my locker is all," He replied. I didn't believe him but if he didn't want to talk about it who was I to force him to. By now my hair was mostly dry and I let it down. It curled around in loose ringlets since I'd had it up most of the day. I rested my head on the table feeling a bit ill and hot. The desk felt nice and cool against my warm forehead. Just then Lauren, Jessica, and Mike walked in and sat at their table. Lauren and Jessica kept turning around and smirking at me or so I thought before Edward piped up, "I swear those two are insufferable. I turned them both down as nice as I could yesterday and now all they do is talk about me and send their unrequited loves after me."

"Ah so that's what happened while I was gone yesterday," I said, "No wonder they haven't been following you around all day and you got ruffed up a bit." I started laughing, "Don't you know not to piss the queen bee off?"

"Apparently not. Either that or it's worth having a few stings to keep her away," he chuckled. Again he had me laughing, and not the fake kind that I was used to.

"Ok class, settle down now. Today we're going to talk about the science fair coming up. As you know you'll be pairing up with someone in class and working on it for the next 3 months and then not only will you be presenting it in class and getting a grade but you will also enter it into the science fair. Any team that advances to the next level in it will get an extra credit of 10points on their grade. So I suggest you start talking amongst yourselves after class and figure out who you want to pair off with and get working on it," our teacher Mr. Johnson said. With that out of the way he started in on the day's lesson.

A few minutes later a note slide towards me.

_Partner? _

He looked over at me expectantly. I smiled and shook my head yes. He grinned back and that was it for the rest of class. Once class let out he came up to me and asked me about what we should do and when we should start getting together. I told him the only stipulation I had was that we not meet at my house because Charlie was rarely home during the day due to work and he didn't like me having boys over unsupervised. It seemed like a reasonable excuse to me. He said that was fine and that his mother was a stay at home mom and it'd be fine to meet at their house. This was all stuff I'd have to run by Charlie first but if it was for school I didn't see how he could refuse. I went to gym and finished out my day before heading home.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Yea so my work comp is impossible. I couldn't find where Chpt 3 was on it's memory so since chpt 3 was so screwed up I've fixed it and rewarding everyone for their patience with chpt 4. :o)**

Chapter 4

**EPOV**

As I pulled up to Forks High School for day three I couldn't help but wonder if Bella was going to be there today. It was weird. I only spent two classes with her and then when she wasn't there for them the next day I felt so alone and lost. Hopefully I would be able to talk more to her today and she wouldn't look as though she were in constant pain either. As I parked my car I saw Angela talking to what looked like a drowned cat. It was already the end of October and it was quite cold out. Who would be outside with wet hair? Emmet and Rose had driven in Emmet's Jeep so that he could have a very late try out for the football team this afternoon and they had just pulled up and parked and didn't look like they had any intentions of leaving the warm jeep anytime soon. Jasper, Alice, and I got out and started walking towards Angela.

As I got closer I could see that the poor drowned cat was actually Bella. Her hair was soaking wet and her lips were purple. Alice got to her first and started firing off a million questions a mile a minute and the poor girl looked like she was about to fall backwards from the verbal assault. Before I could say anything Jasper had piped in and calmed Alice down. I was about to offer Bella my coat because she was obviously freezing but the warning bell sounded and she went running into school to get to class on time.

All through first period I just kept wondering what had led her to be outside with her hair soaking wet. Most women, from what I could tell, were super paranoid about their hair and had to have it fixed perfectly before leaving the house. Not only did it look like someone had dumped a bucket of water on her but she had been outside for quite a bit. Her lips were purple and her teeth were chattering. It just didn't make any sense to me. Bella was a strange case. The first time I met her she looked to be in excruciating pain and now the second time I see her she's freezing her cute little ass off in the parking lot. And what was up with the comment that Angela had made about Bella and her father? I had heard from other students that Bella was a transfer student too and that she and Chief Swan had only moved her about a year ago. May be I could find something about her by looking online. They had told me Bella's mom had been killed in a car accident that Bella herself had been in.

It was so strange though how most of the school just ignored her. To me she was beautiful. Quiet yes, but that just added to her charm. But she was more refined then the other girls who were in the class. She didn't glob on the make up and bat her eyes at anything that had a penis. In fact she seemed to shun the rest of the student body as much as they did her. It was strange. I'd never seen anyone so ostracized from a school like she was. In my old school there were plenty of kids who kept to themselves but they still had their close knit group of friends. It seemed like the only people Bella willingly spoke to were Angela and her boyfriend Ben. May be it just had to do with the size of the school. My old school was much larger then this one. May be the fewer students there are the more each individual one stood out.

Just then the bell rang signaling that first period was over. I walked to my locker and grabbed my books for second and third period and then made my way down the hall towards my second class. I sat in my seat and reflected on yesterday. I couldn't believe Lauren and Jessica took rejection so badly. They must not be used to it it seemed. Every guy around this school seemed willing to take a ride on the town bicycles and the fact that I wasn't interested enraged them. So to take out their anger they sent their big steroid buddy Mike after me. I think I held my own pretty well against him. I only ended up with a busted nose and a swollen lip. Could have been much worse, and I got a few hits on him. None that any one could see today, but I still managed to get a few in. Hopefully that wouldn't turn into a daily routine. It still seemed rather over kill to me though. I had very gently and respectfully turned them both down. I even did it in private so as to keep them from being embarrassed in front of their fellow class mates. What more could they want from me? Of course they'd also already started talking about my siblings and their relationships. Typical. Can't get what they want and so they're going to talk about some of the more "unnatural" aspects of my family's personal life. Not that it matters to them but they're not even related, except for Jasper and Rosalie who were twins. They're just adopted kids who fell for each other. They're just jealous that they have love and all they could get was lust filled one night stands and that I refused to be one of them.

Finally the bell rang and I found myself excited to be going to my third period trig class. Not that I minded trig, I was really good at it actually, but I loved the company around me in it. As I reached the door to my trig class I could see Bella sitting at her desk already, and ready to go with her book and notebook sitting out on top of her desk. She had pulled her hair up into a messy looking bun. Hopefully it was to keep the wet locks off of her and may be keep her from getting sick again. It was bad enough she missed yesterday. I would hate to think of her getting sick again and missing more school.

I sat down at my desk and noticed that she didn't acknowledge me. I decided to get myself ready for class before I said anything. Mike and Jessica were sitting together and I could hear them talking about how Mike beat me up yesterday. Not like it was much of a fight. He came up behind me and started it before I even knew what had happened. It wasn't very fair, although, it's not like I would have had much more luck if I would have seen it coming either. Luckily though after yesterday I didn't have to worry about Jessica coming over to talk to me and distract me from talking with Bella. Just then I heard her soft voice cut into my thoughts.

"So. How do you like school so far? I see you managed to survive two and half days here now," she asked. I could tell she was teasing but if she'd only known how true that statement was. I'm sure she had no idea what had happened yesterday between Mike and I or with Jessica and Lauren. She didn't strike me as the type of girl who paid any attention to the gossip around the school.

"It's fine. Not much different then any other school. A little more small town 'I know where you live so you better watch what you do,' but overall nothing special," I replied, "Also it's more rainy then what I'm used to. I miss the snow but I'm sure you guys get snow too." Jeez how much more lame could I get. I was talking about the weather for crying out loud. That's what people talk about when they have absolutely nothing better to say.

"Yeah that's the only bad thing about small towns. Very few secrets around them and even less privacy, and yeah we get snow. Normally not until November end of October though," she replied. "You know your nose looks kind of big and your lip looks swollen. Are you ok?"

I blushed at that last part. "Thanks," was all I could say. I noticed then that she turned red realizing how that must have sounded after she had said it.

"Oh no. No. I didn't mean it like that. I mean it looks sore like you ran into something and it was swollen. Not that you have a big nose. I'm sorry. That came out wrong," she started back tracking.

She was cute when she got flustered. All I could do was laugh and shake my head. "No it's alright. I knew what you meant. I just wanted to give you a hard time is all. I got in a fight yesterday and got knocked in the nose and the mouth. No biggie. The swelling is really the only thing that resulted from it. So what was up with you this morning? Your hair was soaking wet and your lips were purple."

"Oh that was nothing. I just woke up late and didn't have time to blow dry my hair. Charlie had said he'd bring me to school and so I had to rush to be ready in time," she replied. Although I could tell just by looking in her eyes that that wasn't what it was at all. But like she said small towns were nearly impossible to keep secrets and I knew eventually what ever it was that she was hiding I would find out soon enough. Whether it was from her or if I had to do some detective work, because leaving your house with wet hair on a morning like this one is not normal and I know no parent would let their child either. Not a good one any ways.

"Well why didn't you just ride with Angela? That would have given you time to dry your hair at least. You looked like you were freezing out there," I probed. I thought may be if I asked the right questions it might get her to tell me the full truth. Heck I had told her about my embarrassing nose incident from yesterday and I was the new guy who had to try to make a good impression. Although some how I didn't really think she cared much about impressions or what others thought.

"I didn't have time to call her and ask. Charlie was in a rush and I just ran out the door not even thinking about if it was cold out or not," she replied. There it was again. That look of pain and pleading for me to just let it go and stop asking.

"Oh," was all I managed to say. Brilliant I know. Something about this young woman just brought out my articulate side.

Just then the teacher started class and I began to take a few notes here and there. Once again though I'd already learned this lesson and was bored. It was nice to have a review but it was nicer still that I could stare at Bella and not have her know it. She was deep in concentration and copying down notes at a break neck speed. May be I could offer to tutor her in math. It seemed to be one of her weaker subjects. A few times she caught me staring and rather then my face blushing hers did. I couldn't get over how beautiful she was. That blue sweater didn't help either. It was old I could tell but the fadedness of it really suited her skin tone. She didn't dress to impress like the women around me did. She dressed for comfort it looked like and I found that to be incredibly sexy. I noticed how she wrote with her right hand and held her stomach and side with her left hand and that she still didn't put any weight on her left leg. It was weird how people could give away little hints about themselves and not even know it. I wonder what happened to her. She hid it well at least from everyone around here who didn't notice or care about her. I wonder what kind of secret she was keeping from this small town. May be Angela would know.

The bell rang all too soon and I was pulled from my thoughts about my mysterious neighbor. She flew out the door so fast I didn't even get a chance to tell her bye or see if she wanted to eat lunch with us today. As I was making my way from class to my locker to get my lunch money I felt someone staring at me. I didn't think much of it being the new kid; stares were to be expected at least for the first week or two. I reached my locker and put my books up and grabbed my money. Just as I was turning away I saw that it was Mike again. Great this was going to be a daily ritual for us now it seemed. I wonder what he did before I came along. Who he used to torture during lunch and what had happened to that poor soul? I wonder if they realized he had moved on to someone new and if they were happy about it or felt bad for me.

He wasn't as rough as he was yesterday. Although, it could have been because his personal cheerleading squad wasn't present. He punched me a few good times in the stomach and I collapsed to the floor holding it. It really wasn't that bad at all. I hit the ground more as a distraction then anything. I'd learned after getting several beatings that if they think you're hurt worse then you are they stop sooner. He was the same way but what was I expecting. For once it was good that most people react the same way to similar situations.

After he was done I got up slowly and went to the boy's bathroom to assess any new damages that may be visible. As I looked in the mirror I didn't see anything new. I'm sure I might have a few bruises on my torso later but nothing major. I cleaned up and headed back towards the cafeteria.

As I entered I was searching for my family and for where Bella was. To my surprise they were sitting together along with Ben and Angela and it looked like they were having fun. Emmet had done something and I could see Bella laughing. God she looked beautiful when she did that. Her eyes crinkled up and sparkled and her smile was contagious. I couldn't help but smile at them. Just as I was enjoying her happiness from afar though I saw Lauren come up behind her and say something. That's all it took. I saw all the happiness fad away in an instant and she was looking sad again and embarrassed. I wonder what she could have said to illicit such a sudden reaction and what could have prompted it. Just then Angela said something and I saw relief in Bella's eyes. She gave Angela a grateful look and continued to stare at her food. All of a sudden I saw Rose slap Emmet upside the head and the whole table was laughing. Leave it to Emmet to say something stupid and have Rose call him out on it, but at least they got my girl smiling again. Not the same as before but it was a smile none the less.

I walked over to the table and sat down beside Emmet.

"What happened to you Eddie," Emmet asked.

"Nothing. Just got hung up before getting here, and don't call me Eddie. You know I hate that," I replied.

"So Ed whatcha going to eat," Emmet asked, "Not much time left for you to go stand in line and eat. May be tomorrow you should meet me in the halls and I'll show you how it's done."

"First, Emmet don't call me Ed either. Second, I don't need you to show me how to cram as much food as a little styrofoam tray will hold and then cram what doesn't fit onto my girlfriends neighboring tray," I replied.

At that the whole table burst out laughing again. "Hey it's not my fault you don't know how to get your money's worth," Emmet laughed, "Hey Bella how's about you stand by me tomorrow in line and we'll get some real use out of that golden little card of yours?"

Bella just turned bright red and Rose smacked Emmet again. At that Bella burst out laughing again and the rest of us did too. I wonder what card Emmet was talking about. Whatever it was it seemed to embarrass her to talk about it. I noticed Bella cutting a slice of pizza in half and wondered if she had some weird eating habits and if she was one of those girls who was too neat for picking her pizza up to eat and had to cut it into little bites. Next thing I know she's sliding half of it across the table on a napkin towards me.

"What's that for," I asked.

"What does it look like," she snapped back. Then she was back tracking again in her cute way turning red and stammering, "I just figured you needed something in your stomach. Can't have my lab partner fainting on me during class because he didn't get a chance to eat lunch." Then she did the most amazing thing. She smiled and she winked at me. I know I know I sound like a smitten kitten or whatever dopy things girls come up with each other for when they're in love, but nothing else fit how I was feeling about this girl. She had barely enough food to keep her full and she was sharing it with me. All I could do was smile back at her. Alice was definitely amused by the situation because I could see her going back and forth between the two of us looking for a tell tale reaction to tell her what was going on between us. Angela openly gaped at Bella and Ben just took his finger and pushed her chin up to help close her mouth. Emmet was about to dive on my meager lunch when once again Rosalie smacked him and told him to leave it because it was for his little brother. I swear I don't know how Emmet doesn't have permanent brain damage from all the hits he takes from Rose. A few minutes later with barely enough time for us to eat our pizza the bell rang and we had to go to our fourth period classes.

I went to fourth period feeling a little bit better after my half a lunch period and having shared lunch with in my opinion one of the hottest girls in school. I didn't get much out of her at lunch but she was definitely coming out of her shell more. I'd have to thank Emmet for that when he got home tonight. I'm sure a lot of it had to do with his goofy ways. I'd never seen her smile as much as she had at lunch today. Although I've only known her a grand total of a day and a half. May be she was just having a bad week. Who knows? May be this wasn't her true personality and I would find out soon that she was as outgoing as Alice. Oh God help me. Don't let her be as outgoing as Alice. I could just see myself standing there as Bella was bouncing around me and pulling on my arm like Alice does to Jasper. I started laughing to myself at that thought. Finally fourth period was done and I was on my way to my second favorite class, Biology!!!!

As I entered the class room I saw Bella was already at our desk. I sat down beside her and before I could unload my backpack Bella was talking to me.

"So what happened during lunch today," she asked me.

"What do you mean," I responded, "You were there. You gave me half your pizza and Emmet tried to inhale it before I could even process what you'd done." I gave her one of my innocent grins.

"No. I mean why you were late to lunch," she asked.

Damn! She was a perceptive little thing. I had to give her that. She also seemed pretty persistent and that she wouldn't stop asking me until she got an answer.

"I just got held up at my locker is all," I replied. She didn't look like she bought it but she wasn't being fully honest with me so why should I be with her. Besides how pathetic would it sound to say I got beat up again. Two days in a row was just too lame to admit to anybody, much less the girl I was crushing on. By that time she let her hair fall out of the messy bun she'd been keeping it in all day. It looked so soft and touchable. I could smell her shampoo wafting over towards me. It had a fruity smell to it. She was looking kind of flushed in the face and it made me worry again that she might get sick and miss school again. She just laid her head down and seemed to watch as both Jessica and Lauren kept looking my way and laughing.

"I swear those two are insufferable. I turned them both down as nice as I could yesterday and now all they do is talk about me and send their unrequited loves after me," I told her.

"Ah so that's what happened while I was gone yesterday," she said, "No wonder they haven't been following you around all day and you got ruffed up a bit." She started laughing again and said, "Don't you know not to piss the queen bee off?"

"Apparently not. Either that or it's worth having a few stings to keep them away," I chuckled. At that she started laughing again.

"Ok class, settle down now. Today we're going to talk about the science fair coming up. As you know you'll be pairing up with someone in class and working on it for the next 3 months and then not only will you be presenting it in class and getting a grade but you will also enter it into the science fair. Any team that advances to the next level in it will get an extra credit of 10points on their grade. So I suggest you start talking amongst yourselves after class and figure out who you want to pair off with and get working on it," our teacher Mr. Johnson said. With that out of the way he started in on the day's lesson. After a few minutes I composed a very short, simple, and to the point note for Bella. I slid it over towards her as stealthily as I could.

She looked over at me and then down at the note. She picked it up and looked at the simple request:

_Partner? _

As I looked at her and waited for her answer she had a slight smile cross her face and then she turned and nodded her head yes to me. All I could do was smile back and do silent back flips in my head. I couldn't wait until class was over with so that I could talk to her about doing our project. I finally had a reason to spend time with Bella Swan and get to know her. The bell rang releasing us from fifth period. I stopped Bella when she was going to leave.

"So any ideas on what you'd like to do for the project," I asked her.

She looked at me with wide eyes, "I dunno. I guess we should do some research and see what we might want to do it on. Can we do it at your place though? My dad works till late and he doesn't like me having boys over when he's not around."

"Yeah that's perfect. My mom, Esme, is a stay at home mom. She'd love to meet you. May be we can have dinner first and then work on the project after. Do you want to come by tomorrow night," I asked her. God I sounded so desperate. I can't believe I just said my mom would love to meet her. It gave her the impression that I was talking about her at home too.

"Sure that shouldn't be a problem. I'll check with Charlie tonight and I'll let you know for sure tomorrow," she said.

"Ok well I'll talk to you tomorrow then," I told her as I racked my hand through my hair.

"Alright. Later gator," Bella called.

"In awhile crocodile," I yelled.

As I walked into sixth period Spanish, Emmet was smiling at me. I knew he could tell something was up but he waited until I sat down and got ready for class.

"So Eddie, what has you in such a good mood," Emmet asked.

"I just got paired off for my science fair project and she'll be coming by the house tomorrow night for dinner. I'll also get to spend a lot of extra one on one time with her," I told him.

"Oh really," he asked wiggling his eyebrows, "And who is she?"

"Bella," I smiled.

"So you like her then do ya Eddie boy," he teased.

"She intrigues me and I find her to be very sweet and beautiful," I told him.

Just then the teacher walked in and the final bell sounded. We made it through a long hour of review. I swear sometimes I felt like Emmet and I could teach this class better then the teacher was. This was all basic stuff and this shmuck was making it sound like Greek even to me. Luckily I already knew this and I just tuned him out because he had no idea what he was doing. Finally the bell rang and I rushed out of class and yelled over my shoulder, "Good luck Emmet with try outs."

As I walked out to my car I unlocked it and threw my bag in the trunk. I was waiting on Jasper and Alice when I saw Angela walking out with Bella. I forgot that I'd see her out here. Man I had it bad if my heart was skipping a beat just at the thought of see her in the parking lot when I thought I wouldn't see her again until tomorrow. They got to Angela's car and I walked over to talk while I waited on Jasper and Alice. Was it more or did Bella smile a little at seeing me again?

Just then Alice and Jasper came up and were busy throwing their things into the trunk when Bella called, "Hey Alice I'll see ya tomorrow night. Make sure to have everything in your room out that you've been bragging about."

"You're coming to the house? Since when? What time? Ohhhhh I can't wait to show you around the house. It's so cool. You can almost get lost in it," Alice cried. She was so excited she was jumping from foot to foot and grabbing Jasper and yanking his arm up and down with each hop she made. Again that image of it being Bella doing it to me one day popped into my head and I began laughing again. Poor guy all I could do was laugh at his facial features to each excited yelp she made.

"Alice! Sweetie! You've got to calm down before you rip my arm out of socket," Jasper chided her.

"Oh. Oops. Sorry baby. You know me, I just get so excited I get carried away and forget that you're so breakable," Alice responded, "So Bella when are you coming over?"

"Tomorrow night for dinner, and then afterwards Edward and I have to work on our Science Fair project. But I should have some room for Alice time," Bella responded.

"Oh boy oh boy! I can't wait. Come on Edward we need to get home so I can start getting everything ready," Alice cried.

"Ok well see you tomorrow Bella. Bye Angela," I said.

"Bye," they both said in unison.

After we got home I found Esme in the kitchen. "Hey mom," I said as I entered.

"Hey sweetie. How did school go today? Was your little friend there today that you and Alice like so much," she asked.

"Yeah and we decided to be partners for the science fair, so you'll be seeing a lot of her since she and I will have to be working on it a lot. We decided to do most of the work here since her dad's the police chief and is at work most afternoons. She said he doesn't like her having guys over when he's not home. Is it alright if she comes over for dinner tomorrow night and then after we can get started on our project," I asked.

"Well I don't see why not. She seems like a very nice girl from what you and Alice have said. Do you know what kind of food she likes so I have an idea of what to make for dinner," Esme asked.

"I honestly don't know. Pizza always is a safe bet though mom," I told her.

"Edward I asked what she'd like not what you like. Why don't you call her and find out what she'd like for dinner," she suggested.

"Well I kind of forgot to get her number mom."

"Well we do have a phone book son and you do know her father's name. I don't think there are too many Charles Swan's in the phone book in this small town. Do you?"

Wow Esme was being smart with me. I couldn't believe it. Either that or my stupid emotions were keeping me from thinking straight which is a very large possibility since normally I would just think to look her up in the phone book on my own. Man she's seriously messing with my head and she doesn't even know it. I grabbed the phone book and high tailed it back up to my room on the third floor. I shut the door so Alice wouldn't know who I was calling and started flipping through to the S's.

Five minutes later I was calling the Swan residence and waiting for the phone to be answered. After about 5 rings and all of my courage gone I was about to hang up when the phone was answered.

"Hello," I heard her breathy voice reply. I couldn't do it. I lost my nerve and hung up. A few minutes later my cell phone started buzzing and I realized she must have caller ID or star 69ed me. I was about to let it go to voice mail but then I realized she'd know it was me because of my message. I answered at the last possible minute.

"Hello," I answered.

"Um yeah someone just called from this number," she said a little confused.

"Oh hey Bella. It's me Edward. Sorry it rang and rang and I must have hung up just as you answered," I told her. Smooth Cullen. Real smooth I thought.

"Oh hey Edward. What'd ya need." She asked.

Well she didn't sound irritated or scared that some stalker was calling her at home to a number she didn't give out.

"Well I was talking to Esme, my mom, about you coming over for dinner tomorrow and she started asking me what you'd like to eat and I had to tell her I had no idea. So she suggested I look up your number and call and find out so she could make something that you'll enjoy," I told her. There put all the blame on Esme for how and why I was calling her. Mom wouldn't mind at all.

"OH! Um well I don't know. I like just about anything. Except for beans and peas. That whole texture thing just grosses me out," she said.

I started laughing about the whole texture thing because I knew exactly what she was talking about because I had the same problem.

"Well as helpful as that is I think she'd rather you give her a few actual meal ideas," I told her.

"Oh hmmmm well… I like lasagna, and chicken and dumplings are always good. Pizza is always a simple one too. I really don't want to her to go to any trouble with it. In fact I can even eat before I come if that would be easier. I'm going to make Charlie's dinner before I leave any ways so I can just have some of it."

"Oh no you don't. Esme loves having someone new to cook for. Besides we already decided earlier that you'd be here for dinner. No weaseling out now," I told her, "I think I have an idea though. I'll let you go. I have to go let Esme know. See you tomorrow. Bye"

"Alright. Bye Edward. Talk to you tomorrow."

_Click._

Well that wasn't so bad. And it didn't even seem really stalkerish. I had to go downstairs now and let Esme know about what she had said.

After going downstairs to talk to Esme about what Bella and I had talked about on the phone I was hanging out and helping her with tonight's dinner when Emmet and Rose came in. Emmet had a huge shit eating grin on his face which I knew could only mean one thing. He had made the football team. Not that I was surprised. He was an amazing player and for his size he could move pretty quickly down the field. Of course that wasn't the only reason he was smiling. Oh no with Emmet there was always an ulterior motive.

"So Emmy…What's up with the big shit eating grin on your face," I asked.

"Don't call me Emmy," he said as his smile fell a bit, "you know I hate that he said. But of course yours truly made the team. They had me do both offense and defense try outs to see what I could do. When I was on defense though, I got to tackle your good buddy Newton several times."

"Well Emmy… you know I hate your little pet names that you call me and you still use them. So tough luck," I said.

"You should have seen it Edward," Rose piped in, "He hit Newton so hard one time that his helmet flew off about 10 yards away and all Newton could do is lay there in shock. It was hysterical"

We were all laughing as Emmet imitated Mike's reaction to the hit. I knew I'd probably be paying for it tomorrow but it was still funny to think about right now. After that we all went up stairs and did our homework until dinner was ready. Alice was bouncing in her seat talking about what all she had planned for tomorrow night when Emmet and Rose finally asked what she was talking about. Alice explained about Bella coming over and how we were partners and that she'd be over a bunch now since we only had three months to work on our project. Emmet just turned and gave me a sly smile and wiggled his eyebrows. I just rolled my eyes at him.

"Oh come on Eddie," He said, "We all know you like her. Besides she's a cutie. Nice little butt on her. Although she doesn't say much or dress as fashionably as most girls."

"Don't talk about her that way," I said. I was beginning to see red. Who was he to talk about her butt or the way she dressed. I liked the way she dressed. It set her apart from all the other skanks around Fork's High.

"Emmet! I thought I raised you better then that. You shouldn't talk about a lady like that," Esme cut in.

"Sorry mom," Emmet replied.

I just stuck my tongue out at him and of course when mom and dad weren't looking he just had to make an obscene response with his fingers and tongue. Rose just smacked him on the back of the head.

After dinner I went upstairs to work on ideas for the science fair project and get ready for bed. Finally after a few hours of research I crashed into bed and thought about Bella.

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_**AN: ok so let me know if you guys like the alternating pov's or not. I do it so that it gives both perspectives on what they're thinking but I know it can be kind of repetitive too. Leave reviews so I know if I should continue it or not. **_


	5. Chapter 5

**AN**: I'm sooooo sorry it's been so long for me to update. I know I know you hear it all the time but I have a valid excuse. Believe me the inspiration is there but not the time to put pen to paper or in this case finger to keys. But I've been busy acting as my husband's caregiver, he had to do two not just one but two bone marrow transplants so for the last two years I haven't had much time plus working full time. Hopefully soon I'll be able to get back to you guys. Again I'm very sorry for the long delays.


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